Lovey Forbes

Who is Lovey Forbes?

Lovey Forbes, born on 25 June 1950 in Bottle Creek on North Caicos, is a musician credited with creating Combina, a homegrown Turks and Caicos musical style. His mother taught music and played the organ, and he began playing harmonica at the age of three after his father gave him one as a gift. As a young man he spent years performing in the Bahamas, writing songs about his home islands and playing in bands such as Cooling Waters, Smokey 007, The Exciters, and Revolution of the Mind. Homesick for North Caicos, he returned in 1976 and wrote his first original song about home, 'Whitby Paradise', switching from harmonica to guitar. Drawing on the older Turks and Caicos tradition of Ripsaw, a rhythm built around a scraped carpenter's saw, hand drums, and homemade instruments developed during slavery, Forbes blended it in the early 1980s with country, reggae, calypso, rock and roll, and gospel influences to create Combina music, a style still closely associated with him today. He has continued to perform locally for decades, has become a model for other Turks and Caicos musicians, and is known for his volunteer community service. In March 2000, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, presented him with a badge of honor for his music celebrating the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Sources: Turks and Caicos Island Guide, "Lovey 'L Mozomdee' Forbes – Spirited Island Musician", tciislandguide.com · Times of the Islands, "A Model for Music and More" (June 2017), timespub.tc